Protozoan parasites are known to infect both man and animals and to have exceedingly debilitating effects there upon.
Although the art is replete with reports of diseases stemming from protozoal infections, coccidiosis, malaria and babesia, are, perhaps, the most commonly encountered diseases resulting from protozoan infections in animals and/or man. Coccidiosis is an extremely severe disease that frequently afflicts swine, poultry, such as chickens, turkeys and geese, and ruminants such as cattle and sheep. This disease can strike with devastating suddenness and destroy an entire flock of birds or decimate a herd of cattle or flock of sheep or it may manifest itself as a mild outbreak that simply causes weight loss of the infected animals and reduces efficiency of feed utilization thereby. However, regardless of the manner in which the disease afflicts the host animals, significant monetary losses generally accompany such disease outbreaks when they occur in flocks or herds of meat producing or companion animals.
The protozoan parasites usually responsible for coccidiosis in the above-mentioned animals are generally of the genus Eimeria. Six species which have been shown to be primary causive agents for the disease are: Eimeria tenella, Eimeria necatrix, Eimeria mivati, Eimeria maxima, Eimeria brunetti and Eimeria acervulina. In swine it has been shown that the protozoan Isospora suis is also responsible for coccidiosis.
Babesia infections, like Eimeria infections, have been a major concern to the livestock industry for many years. These infections frequently produce anemia and death in the infected animals and are responsible for significant economic losses for the livestock producers. While Babesia infections have generally been found to occur in ruminants, in recent years it has been discovered that the disease is also transmitted to domesticated pets such as dogs and to humans.
Importantly, it has been recognized by the livestock industry that there is no entirely satisfactory method for preventing, treating or controlling, Babesia infections in livestock, domestic animals or humans, presently available.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for preventing, treating or controlling Babesia infections in warm-blooded animals.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a method for preventing, treating or controlling coccidiosis in warm-blooded animals.
Anticoccidial treatments that have met with some success and acceptance by the poultry industry include the anticoccidial treatments of E. Waletzky et al. described in Reissue U.S. Pat. No. Re. 26,833 reissued Mar. 24, 1970; the A. S. Tomcufcik, U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,432 issued Oct. 30, 1973 and the W. D. Celmer et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,882, issued Apr. 10, 1979. The drugs described in these patents are useful for treating coccidial infections in poultry; but, new more effective treatments are needed if the industry is to successfully control the disease that plagues meat production throughout the world.
It is, therefore, another object of the present invention to provide a novel method for preventing, treating or controlling, protozoan infections in warm-blooded animals.